Fully-Booked: Literary Podcast

The Making of a Witch began when Judy Molland found her own last name in a book about English witch trials.
Meaghan is flying solo this week (Shirin is out sick) with a pre-recorded interview she has been sitting on since the spring. Judy Molland is a first-time novelist, a former French and English teacher, and a practising Wiccan who spent years chasing a woman almost nobody bothered to write down.
The Making of a Witch, out now from She Writes Press, tells the story of Alice Molland, the last person sentenced to death for witchcraft in England, at Exeter in 1685.
Alice Molland: the last witch sentenced to death in England
Judy Molland was 25, at her father's vicarage, when she opened Keith Thomas's Religion and the Decline of Magic and found her own surname in it Religion and the Decline of Magic
The line named Alice Molland as the last person sentenced to death for witchcraft in England, in 1685
Her father, a Church of England vicar, shut the book and told her never to mention that woman again. That shut the whole thing down for years
Molland is an unusual name in Devon, which is a large part of why Judy came to think of Alice as her ancestor
Writing a novel when the archive gives you one line
The only record Judy found was a 17th century Assizes entry naming Alice as tried for witchcraft on the bodies of three women
The page was part Latin, in a hand she could not read. The librarian pointed at the line and did nothing else
Marks on the record indicated Alice was poor, propertyless and alone. That is the whole evidence base
Having almost nothing turned out to be freeing, because it meant fiction was the only honest way in The Making of a Witch
The dream, the herbs, and a healer nobody could protect
Twenty years ago Judy started having the same dream: a horse chestnut wood, a cottage, a dark-haired woman with blue eyes beckoning her down the path. She knew it was Alice
Alice learns healing from Goody Luscombe, executed in the opening chapter while Alice, aged ten, is made to watch
Alice works with mugwort, slippery elm and comfrey, and her reputation as a healer is exactly what puts her in danger
Helping people is what Alice is for, and it is what will get her killed
Hearsay trials and how witch accusations actually worked
Judy read Exeter court records across two summers. A woman charged with killing a neighbour's pigs by looking at them. A starving widow refused food, then blamed when that household fell ill
A red bird on a windowsill. A woman seen with a toad. Enough to put someone in front of a court
Being tried was often the end of a life even without a hanging, because the label followed you
The Pendle witches in Lancashire and the East Anglia trials are the best known English cases
Wicca, the Exeter Castle plaque, and the sequel
Judy went to a Pagan Federation conference in London not long after her father's funeral and described it as coming home
She became the overseas member of a coven in Devon and helped put up the first English memorial to accused witches, outside Exeter Castle, in the 1990s Exeter Castle witches plaque
The moon rituals in the novel arrived because they arrived in her own life first. None of it was planned
Every witch hunt history she read was written by the rulers, never the accused. That was the driving idea
Next is a sequel following Alice's son Tommy, grown up. Judy calls it a novel of revenge.

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The Whisper Man book vs movie, and the gap between them is wider than it looks. Meaghan and Shirin dig into Netflix's adaptation of Alex North's 2019 thriller, out August 28, and work out what got lost on the way to the screen.

Alex North (the pen name of Leeds crime writer Steve Mosby) wrote a slow, atmospheric novel about a widowed writer, a copycat killer, and a father and son who barely speak. James Ashcroft's film keeps the bones and trims almost everything else. Meaghan came in having listened to the audiobook narrated by Christopher Eccleston, Shirin went in completely blind, and they landed in roughly the same place: the cast is doing a lot of heavy lifting for a script that does not give them much.
The Whisper Man Book vs Movie
Netflix released The Whisper Man on August 28, adapted from Alex North's 2019 debut thriller and directed by James Ashcroft for the Russo brothers' AGBO. Meaghan had just finished the audiobook. Shirin had read nothing. Both of them wanted more.
The story moves from England to America, which changes the setting, the town, and the way the characters talk to each other.
Meaghan listened to the audiobook narrated by Christopher Eccleston and recommends it, accent and all.
The reveal that Pete Willis is Tom Kennedy's father arrives immediately on screen. In the novel, you do not get it until roughly halfway.
What the Adaptation Cut
The film keeps the plot and drops the reasons, and that is where most of the frustration sits.
Francis Carter Jr's motive is fully drawn in the novel: forced as a child to witness his father's crimes, convinced he is rescuing neglected boys, killing them the moment they disappoint him.
The book gives you his POV, which makes the guilt and the enjoyment sit uncomfortably together. None of that is on screen.
The ending changes for Pete and for the resolution with Tom. The novel handles it as something closer to a dream, which is far more effective.
Shirin's biggest complaint: everything gets spoon-fed. The girl in the blue sweater would have hit harder if left unexplained.
Cast Notes and Performances
The cast is stacked to the point of distraction, and mostly they are doing more than the script asks.
Adam Scott as Tom Kennedy is the standout. He also played a grieving writer in Hokum, Damian McCarthy's film from May, which makes two this year.
Robert De Niro as Pete Willis is underused, largely scowling. In the novel, Pete is younger and still an active detective, so he actually participates.
Michael Keaton as Frank Carter is very good and turns up unannounced if you skipped the trailer.
Michelle Monaghan's Amanda Beck deserved far more screen time. She also recurs in The Shadows. Owen Teague as Francis Carter Jr barely gets any.
On the Nightstand
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, a dark satire about a trad wife influencer who wakes up in the nineteenth century. Anne Hathaway is set to star and produce for Amazon MGM.
Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer, on the pile next, part of a real wave of trad wife horror and satire.
Let's Kiss and Tell by Joss Richard, a fake dating romance between a sex columnist and a news writer. Easy summer closer.
Coming Up on Fully-Booked Podcast

An interview with Judy Molland about The Making of a Witch, her historical novel about Alice Molland, her likely ancestor and the last person sentenced to death for witchcraft in England.
Practical Magic 2, The Love Hypothesis on Prime Video, and Verity in October, which the trailers are very much selling as horror.

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Season 3 Is the First One That Lost Us

Shirin rewatched seasons one and two to prep for this and went in genuinely excited. Season 3 did not hold up.

Ten episodes is too many. An eight episode season would have carried this story without the padding.

The problem is not the cast. It is the writing, which shoehorns in conflict to manufacture drama instead of letting it build.

Seasons one and two flowed. This one felt choppy and forced.

The Cole and Jackie Breakup Nobody Wanted

Two seasons of will they, won't they, and the payoff is a clunky breakup built on Cole deciding he is not good enough for Jackie.

Cole pulls a full Edward Cullen (leaving Bella in the woods to die energy) and we have collectively moved on from that.

Uncle Richard loses it over one party and one slipping grade, which does not track for a character who has been chill for two seasons.

Nobody in Silver Falls celebrated Cole's turnaround, and that is the strangest part of the whole season.

Cole Walter Deserved Better This Season

Cole is getting into college, working at the garage, staying out of trouble, and everyone still treats him like the problem.

The drag racing arc gets a shrug from Katherine while Alex's rodeo got a full conniption last season. We wanted more digging on that inconsistency.

His arc from season one to now is the best on the show, and this season barely acknowledges it.

Dylan Newsome Is the MVP

A goofy doofus who steps up for Kiley and for Cole, over and over.

The scene where he asks Eliot to back off without getting aggressive, then just closes the door, is the best character beat of the season.

Alex realising he wants Kiley only after she is happy with someone great is frustrating and very tropey.

The Adult Storylines Are Still the Best Part

Katherine and George Walter working through his stroke recovery, the ranch, and their marriage is the material that actually lands.

Hannah Walter comes back for Isaac and Lee and the show gives her grace instead of a villain edit.

Grace Wagner is the most believable teenage girl on this show. Danny and Erin solve problems by talking. More of that, please.

What We Do Not Want in Season 4

Season 4 is confirmed for 2027 and already filming in Calgary.

Cole is not dead. Let us all be honest about that.

No Alex and Jackie. Do not do it.

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Cape Fear has finished its ten-episode run on Apple TV, and this is the full review: the finale, the cast, and the two episodes nobody needed. 

Meaghan is joined by Arthur for a wrap-up of Nick Antosca's Cape Fear adaptation now that all ten episodes are out. The Apple TV limited series is built on The Executioners, the 1957 John D. MacDonald novel that already produced the 1962 film and Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake, so this is the third pass at the same story. Scorsese and Steven Spielberg executive produce.

The cast is stacked, the score is excellent, and the runtime is not tight. Full spoilers for the entire series, including the finale.

 

The Cape Fear Adaptation Problem: Ten Episodes, Eight Episodes' Worth of Story

Cape Fear is the third adaptation of John D. MacDonald's 1957 novel The Executioners, after the 1962 film and Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake.

Both hosts land in the same place: eight episodes would have been the right shape. At least two mid-season hours drag on good performances alone.

The side plots multiply because the runtime demands it. Nevaeh's arc ends when she leaves juvie and simply stops.

Zack's mental health storyline is the one that stings. It gets worse across the season, never resolves, and reads as cruel rather than honest.

 

Javier Bardem's Max Cady and the Rooftop Tone Break

The early ambiguity is the show's sharpest move. For a few episodes, you genuinely are not sure Max is behind any of it, and Bardem plays both registers well.

The hurricane rooftop scene lands like a comic book. Lightning, close-up, a jump through the window, and a room full of laughter that the show almost certainly did not want.

Max's late-season hallucinations tie back to his brain injury, but they do not push the story anywhere.

The police work is comically bad, repeatedly, and the show has time to spare for it.

 

The Crystal Cady Twist and the Finale on the Boat

Juliette Lewis plays Crystal Cady, a new character with no equivalent in the films, thirty-five years after her Oscar-nominated turn as Danielle in the 1991 version.

The houseboat sequence spanning episodes nine and ten is the best stretch of acting in the series. Ron Perlman, Lewis, and Bardem all firing.

Lewis and Amy Adams sharing scenes late in the season is a highlight, and Lewis gets genuine laughs before the reveal reframes her entirely.

The finale sets Anna up to expose Max publicly, which is the most satisfying beat the show offers.

 

Performances Worth Naming

Amy Adams carries the series because Max cannot be the centre. She is also completely believable as a lawyer, which is rarer than it should be.

Lily Collias as Natalie is excellent in the back half, especially the vacillation in her scenes with Max.

Joe Anders as Zack is not likeable, and that is the point. Very believable.

Jamie Hector as investigator Ray Rawlins is the voice of reason, so of course he dies. Anna Baryshnikov plays Tabitha, and yes, she is Mikhail Baryshnikov's daughter.

 

Score, Setting and the Sequel Bait Question

Jeff Russo's score is a real strength, reworking Bernard Herrmann's original theme into something that still hits.

The Savannah setting is sticky and hot, and you feel it. Lots of Scorsese red.

The final over-the-shoulder scene reads as sequel bait for a show billed as a limited series. Nobody here wants a season two.

Also discussed: the Wicker trailer, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, and Silo season three.

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Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is finally here, and we gave all three hours a proper sit-down. This is our full spoiler review of the 2026 movie: what Nolan kept from Homer, what he changed, and why a 3,000-year-old poem feels this pointed right now.

 

Matt Damon plays an Odysseus who is very much not the perfect hero (he fires the extra arrow, and even his men know better). Tom Holland is Telemachus, Anne Hathaway is Penelope stuck ruling Ithaca while the suitors circle, and Robert Pattinson is so hateable as Antinous you will want to reach through the screen. We get into Zendaya's Athena, Samantha Morton's Circe (the body-horror magic scene that had non-horror people squirming in their seats), Charlize Theron's Calypso, and Elliot Page as Sinon, a character who isn't even in the original poem.

 

Nolan's Odyssey vs. Homer: What Stayed, What Changed

The film tracks the epic's major beats closely (post-Trojan War, Poseidon's wrath, the long road to Ithaca) while braiding present-day Ithaca with flashback.

Elliot Page's Sinon isn't in the Odyssey at all; he surfaces in other tellings, and here he works as a mentor-figure insert that deepens Antinous.

Penelope gets a more modern, furious framing, even if the ending pulls her back toward the original. 

 

The Set Pieces: Cyclops, Circe, and the Underworld

The Cyclops (Polyphemus) was a real ten-piece puppet, filmed in an actual cave. Horror people and non-horror people left equally rattled.

Samantha Morton's Circe plays visceral and grotesque, closer to the old myth than any wand-waving magic.

The underworld was shot in Iceland under all-day daylight, which gave it that eerie glow with no lighting rig needed.

 

The Ensemble and the Cameo Hunt

Matt Damon (Odysseus, real beard included), Tom Holland (Telemachus), Anne Hathaway (Penelope), Robert Pattinson (a gloriously hateable Antinous).

Deep bench: Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, Lupita Nyong'o in a dual role as Helen and Clytemnestra, John Leguizamo as Eumaeus, Ryan Hurst as Mentor.

Blink-and-miss-it faces: Jovan Adepo, Corey Hawkins, Logan Marshall-Green. The recognize-that-actor game is a feature and, for some of us, a distraction.

 

Zeus' Law and the 2026 Read

The film leans on xenia (Zeus' law of hospitality) and ties Odysseus' suffering to breaking it first, with the Trojan horse.

Agamemnon's war for trade routes and power (not honor) reads straight into now. History repeats.

The "people from the sea" reveal reframes the whole journey as a reckoning, not just a string of monsters.

 

Production Worth the Oscars Talk

IMAX cameras run three minutes and roar. The crew built silencing boxes and mirror rigs so actors could act. Tom Holland thought he was getting cut for being bad.

Costume designers degraded fabric with real salt and sun to age it accurately.

The cast learned real rowing and boating (not the movie kind). Everyone came back wet, miserable, and in the best shape of their lives.

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